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Celebrity chef Bobby Flay, host of the Food Network's Boy Meets Grill, is the ­official host and spokesman for Kentucky Derby Party, a new program from Churchill Downs. It's designed to connect millions of Kentucky Derby fans worldwide who enjoy hosting parties on the first Saturday in May.

The site has party invitations, menu ideas, games, party favors and an official online wagering platform. Go to www.kentuckyderby.com/party.

Flay will be the grand marshal of the Kentucky Derby Festival's Pegasus Parade at 5 p.m. Thursday. Go to www.kdf.org for more information.

At Derbytime, the first sprigs of mint to pop up in the garden are often muddled for mint juleps or used to decorate tea and lemonade glasses for parties.

But there are many interesting ways to use the mint that keeps growing no matter how hard you try to kill it.

”Mint is an edible weed,“ farmer Karin Rasmussen of Lancaster said. ”Use it, abuse it, and it will still keep coming back for more abuse.“

Rasmussen grows mint to dry for the seasoning blends that she and her ­husband, Drew, make for their ­company, Herb'n Renewal.